A WOKING pub ravaged by fire will be closed for at least eight months according to its devastated owner.

The Rowbarge in St Johns Road was gutted by a blaze on Saturday afternoon. It broke out in the kitchen and quickly spread to the roof of the building, causing extensive damage.

The fire came barely a week before the owners, Nick and Anna Di Felice, are due to be in court for the sentencing of the teenage driver who caused the death of their son, Tom, in December 2009.

Fire crews from across the county raced to the pub at around 3.50pm on Saturday (January 22), and it took a couple of hours for the incident to be brought under control.

Mr Di Felice said his wife and their nephew were busy serving “about 30 customers” when the kitchen caught fire.

“It was the middle of the Saturday afternoon shift and everything was just going along like normal until it happened," he said.

“I wasn’t actually on the premises when it happened, but my wife was, as well as our nephew who works for us, and the chef in the kitchen.

“The place was evacuated as soon as possible to get everyone out of the pub and outside to safety.

“Anna handled it all perfectly, and she got everyone out very quickly.

“There were probably about 30 customers inside the pub at the time, as well as the staff.”

No-one was injured in the blaze, but Mr Di Felice added: “It’s going to be at least eight to 10 months until we reopen, because part of the pub is a listed building and we have to wait for English Heritage and Woking Borough Council to come and have a look, which takes time.”

An investigation into the cause of the fire is yet to be carried out, with insurers also set to visit in the next few days.

The incident was a dramatic end to an eventful week for the family, after Mr and Mrs Di Felice both celebrated their birthdays last Monday and Tuesday.

And the following day the couple became grandparents for the first time when their daughter Christina and her partner George welcomed baby Sofia into the world.

Their 19-year-old son Tom died just over a year ago when a red Mini he was travelling in came off the road and hit a wall in Broadmead Road, Send.

Luca Bertolone, 19, of Woodham Waye, Woking, has admitted causing death by careless driving while unfit through drink or drugs.

He is due to be sentenced at Guildford Crown Court next Thursday (February 3).

For more on this story, see this week's Woking edition of the Surrey Advertiser, out on Friday, January 28.